Tractor pulling competition Saturday

MOSES LAKE - The Columbia Basin Antique Power Association will sponsor tractor pulling competition Saturday and Sunday at the Grant County Fairgrounds. Admission is free.

Competition starts at 8:30 a.m. each day in the Ardell Pavilion at the rear of the fairgrounds. There's also competition for tractor drivers who want to pull lighter weights, beginning at 2 p.m. Friday, said Glenn Carrigan, one of the organizers.

The antique power is provided by old tractors, which must have been manufactured before 1960, Carrigan said. Owners can modify the engines, but they must use parts from the original manufacturer, he said. It's perfectly OK to soup up the engines, he said. "I always did."

Competitors hook up the tractor and pull a sled, loaded with up to 37,000 pounds, down a track, usually 300 feet in length, Carrigan said. To make it tougher there's a moveable extra weight on the front, which adds more and more resistance to the front end as the tractor progresses down the course, he said.

The tractors also have speed restrictions, and must not exceed the designated speed limit. Competition is broken down by speed limit and the load on the sled. The maximum speed this weekend is 8 mph. "We've gone as (fast) as 12 mph. But that's for hot rods," Carrigan said.

The winner is the driver who pulls the load the furthest distance over the two days, he said. Along with trophies and plaques for the winners, there will be door prizes for spectators and competitors who enter the drawings, he said.

"There's no hurry about it, you take your time and pull as hard as you can," Carrigan said, until the tractor dies, the engine stalls or the load just won't move another inch.

"It's fun. I enjoy it. And I know the guys that do it, they really enjoy it," he said.

Carrigan had two competition tractors parked in his driveway earlier this week, John Deere models manufactured in 1937 and 1941. He modified the engines for additional horsepower. Carrigan said he used to race cars and motorcycles, and tractor pulling is another way to satisfy that competitive urge.

"The guys put this together to have fun. And 'you've got a John Deere, I've got an International Harvester. I can outpull you,'" he said. "It's a competition, and good clean competition is good."

The club was started in 2001, by people who liked old tractors and other farm machinery, and who wanted to preserve and display them. "We want to let the young people know what the farmers used for equipment back in the day," he said.

Club members drove their tractors in parades and took them to shows, and in 2004 they started sponsoring tractor pulling contests, Carrigan said.

Club member Mark Valentine, of Royal City, built the pulling sled. "He's something else. He's really good," Carrigan said. "He's the one that made this (the competition) possible."

Carrigan and his wife Barb participated in the club's tractor pulls, and joined when they moved to Moses Lake in 2013, he said.

The Antique Power Association also sponsors tractor pulling events in Quincy in April and September.